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Fast-track the fast ferry: Oddo aims to revive interest in the service

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Fast ferry service was operated by New York Water Taxi between Great kills and Manhattan in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. But the trial runs failed to catch on with enough commuters.for the link to become permanent.
(Advance photo)

Regular fast-ferry service between Staten Island and Manhattan ought to be something whose time has finally come — especially for thousands of commuters from the South Shore. In fact, such a service should have been established long ago, but it has yet to happen.

Now, more than ever, the idea of a permanent express ferry link from our borough to Manhattan makes too much sense to be dismissed, even though it has remained an elusive goal for years.

“It’s successful all around us. The fact that we don’t have it on Staten Island in the year 2013 makes no sense to me,” City Councilman James Oddo (R-Mid-Island) said. “The hope is in 2014, collectively, we make another effort at this and really make the case and give Staten Islanders another option.”

Let’s hope this goes beyond election-year politics.

Fast-ferry service from the South Shore has never taken hold. Several abortive attempts have been made through the years, but all have failed.

Mr. Oddo, who is running for borough president, met with representatives of New York Waterway, which operates private ferry routes elsewhere to and from Manhattan, to talk about the prospect of a fast connection to Staten Island.

“It’s green; it’s clean; it’s consistent with the trends in the city,” Mr. Oddo said, promising that, if elected, he will seek help from the next mayor to expand ferry service on Staten Island.

That support from City Hall would be vital because most mass transit is subsidized. As is well known, government subsidies reduce the fares for riders who use the city’s buses, subways and commuter rail lines.

New York Waterway, whose ferry routes are not subsidized, relies on passenger volume in order to make a profit.

According to Arthur Imperatore, the company’s founder, “You need a lot of density in order to keep the cost down — otherwise it’s like you can run a private yacht.”

The dearth of passengers is what led to the demise of the emergency fast-ferry service set up on Staten Island in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. It was operated out of Great Kills by New York Water Taxi for the Department of Transportation.

Even at $2 a ride, the federally subsidized service didn’t catch on. But the departure point deep in Great Kills Park was faulted as too far off the beaten path; and the boats took too long to get under way because of restrictions in the harbor. For many, the drop-off locations in Manhattan also weren’t convenient.

Department of Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan said, “While this service never really took off with commuters, we still need to pursue potential ferry services.”

There is no reason to conclude that a more accessible landing location on the South Shore for a fast ferry wouldn’t lure enough passengers — even without a huge government subsidy.

In fact, New York Waterway operates ferry service from Bedford N.J., near Sandy Hook, to Manhattan, a trip that takes less than an hour. The cost: $16 each way.

That’s probably cheaper than some commuters pay to drive from the South Shore, considering tolls at the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge and the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, the price of parking in Manhattan, and the cost of gasoline and wear and tear on their vehicles.